BBC4 at 10 pm - Kraftwerk

[bigcumba]

Their recent Minimum-Maximum show... this is brilliant and well worth checking out! There's also a Krautrock documentary on at the moment, nearly finished, but repeated sometime after midnight again... very interesting!

[scoobydoo]

Ta bigc, its on tomorrow night as well, Sunday morning at 12.30am. Unless it is on catch up of course! :thumbs

[bigcumba]

This is a fantastic show - I've got a copy of the DVD buried away somewhere... I was lucky enough to catch them live back in 1991 when live shows were a real rarity, and they were incredible... and showed that Germans have a sense of humour too! During Pocket Calculator they left their keyboards and used handheld keypads... one of them decided to ply it Hendrix style.. behind his head! Then handed it to someone in the audience! Superb band, so influential on any band that have used electronic sounds...

[scoobydoo]

Absolutely right...they have influenced so many musicians and still are today.I know Coldplay used 'Computer Love' for 'Talk' a few years ago. Will get that on the V+ box in a moment for tomorrow night. Thanks mate. :thumbs

[John]

Managed to catch a little bit of this as I was channel surfing earlier on. Great digital display footage, but the band themselves didn't appear to do much... just kinda stood still... is that normal?! Anyway I thought it was pretty good, I love some of their songs and loads more of their material has just been made available on Spotify which I discovered the other day. Kraftwerk supported Radiohead in Rio de Janeiro in March earlier this year, wish I could've gone...

Getting really into electronica... I'm pretty sure that the electro bands of today for example Hot Chip and Daft Punk must have been influenced by Kraftwerk in a big way.

On a side note Campbell, you'll be pleased to hear I can't get enough of blues at the moment... I'm thoroughly addicted! Buddy Guy - Trouble Blues is a great slow mover.

[bigcumba]

They're not really known for leaping around the stage, but it's all about the overall performance, the visuals as well as the music. It's all deliberate, honed to perfection in their studio over the years... but it till allows them a bit of freedom to improvise within each song, some more than others. As for their influence on todays bands, yeah no doubt about it... even the likes of Afrika Bambaataa has stated his admiration for them and used samples in his own music.... and if you look at things like trance, acid house, all that sort of stuff... all influenced by them to some extent. And then of course there's Numan, OMD, many of the late 70's early 80's bands.

I'm glad to hear you're still enjoying the blues stuff John - I was checking out a load of videos of the late and much missed Rory Gallagher earlier on youtube... some very high quality songs of his on there taken from official DVD's and TV performances. I think once you 'get' the blues, you'll always be hooked.

I've also been diving back into some sounds from my childhood... stuff my parents had on record that I used to play over and over again - Hank Williams, Lonnie Donegan, Chas McDevitt Skiffle group... I must have been digging this stuff when I was only 5 or 6 years old! Check this one out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvCwEO1Ia-U

This was one of my dad's favourite bands - we had this as a 78 record! I still love it.. amazing how these things stick with you throughout your life.

[John]

Freight Train, freight train... going so fast... :D Lovely little song that Campbell. I always enjoy hearing a song from my very young days, i.e. when I first started to recognise what music was and began to associate things with music. Will always remember certain albums from my childhood and associate them with long car journeys or special occasions of other family members etc. That's the thing with music, it sticks in your head if you keep hearing it as a young person, you never forget it.

Kraftwerk really are a great act, I don't actually know much by them but I plan to check out a lot. I can only handle small doses of electronica at a time really though, much as I like it. Spotify has an awful lot of Kraftwerky stuff as I mentioned earlier if you fancy checking any of it out... although you've probably got it all! Sounds like they always but on a great show, both aurally as well as visually, in a digital sense if they're not a band who are known much for their animation.

Yep, still enjoying the blues Campbell... it makes me so happy listening to it... cliche as that may sound. No other type of music really has the same effect on me as blues does. I haven't listened to all of the blues you uploaded for me yet though, still got some of the Otis Taylor stuff to get through... I do like 'Recapturing the Banjo' though... frantically foot-tapping on the tube has become a rather frequent habit! And I really like the Otis Rush album [Any Place I'm Going H.O.B]... some nice slow ones on that like 'Part Time Love'. The other thing about blues for me is that I can associate some of the guitar scales I know with the songs [and can try to improvise over the top of them too... with anything in the key of E or A!]

I don't know any Rory Gallagher stuff I'm afraid... another one for my notebook though.

Time for going on the hunt for more blues soon I think, but not before I've fully got my head around Kraftwerk and some sickly acidic trance/trip-hoppy stuff!

[bigcumba]

I don't know any Rory Gallagher stuff I'm afraid... another one for my notebook though.

Rory was a absolute legend, and a real gentleman as well... really down to earth, happy to chat with the fans abot the music. He's the single biggest influence on my attitude to blues... he turned me on to the originals by playing some of their songs in the acoustic parts of his live set, and he'd always namecheck the old guys and pay tribute to them. Out of all the guys who have passed away since I got into music in a big way I'd say Rory is one I've missed more than most... you knew wha you were going to get at one of his gigs - up to 3 hours of electric and acoustic blues of the highest class. Fantastic guitarist... he was only 47 when he died from complications following a liver transplant.

[John]

Crikey. He's had a huge influence on your musical tastes then... blues obviously in a big, big way. True legends to music shall never be forgotten. I'm all over Rory tomorrow - any particular tracks or albums you can recommend? Such a vague question no doubt! I'm sure he'll have done plenty over his lifetime. Very sad to hear that he died at such a young age as well.

[bigcumba]

Anything at all John to be honest as it's all good... as I mentioned earlier there's a load of top quality stuff on youtube, much taken from his DVD's and TV appearances. To give you a taster of the range, go for these tracks to begin with these acoustic youtubes - these will let you see just how steeped he was in the old blues...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvS1fF_1j-M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnsp7s0Ao10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnLyqKmFZQk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKv8KajGMpI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRtH7QLR924

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrbWfON9jCE

Then check out some of the rockier songs... and be amazed at just how damn good he was!

Shadow Play
Tattoo'd Lady
Moonchild
Bullfrog Blues
Philby
Bad Penny

and pretty much anything he did in the 70's. Hislive albums are particularly good - Irish Tour 74, Live In Europe, and Stagestruck, all give a good idea of his live performances.

[John]

WOW! Many thanks mate I'll have a look at him tomorrow. Looks like I'm in for a treat! :thumbs